Birding Failure...Yes and NO

Every trip looking for birds (any wildlife really) is an adrenaline rush. No matter how common the target species is, there is always the unexpected with a large dollop of expectation lurking in the background. So it was on January 11th, my target birds were Pine Grosbeak, Chestnut-backed Chickadee along Howard Creek (segment of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail) west of Lolo, MT. Temps were seasonal near 32F, calm winds and light snow. Aesthetics were off the charts:


I spent an hour and a half vainly searching...nada excepting 4 Mountain Chickadee and a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatch. A sign encountered on the way back (photo below) metaphorically described my chance of success...made me laugh. Birding is like all other sports, nobody bats/shoots/scores/succeeds 100% of the time. And yes, "it ain't over til the fat lady sings". That's right, there is the trip home at a minimum to find birds.

I remember my father pointing out Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flying by while driving the roads of southern Texas. In this case, no whistling duck, just a Golden Eagle. That's right, a road-killed deer was lunch for this magnificent raptor. Got some smudgy photos from inside of the car in a smart and safe manner. No matter, had success with a slightly different outcome. It seems most of my wildlife adventures have similar outcomes...try it and see if you can bat a 1000 :-)

Counting Birds...Estimating and Using Photoshop

This is a follow-up to a blog posted several days on a large waxwing flock (http://goo.gl/QCwMFX). In the past, I've just estimated the flock size without using a camera. The immediate photo below illustrates a traditional method of estimation used "live". One applies a "block" (really an area measure) of known quantity to the entire flock as quickly as possible. In this case I used 25 birds as the block...it seems about right. So, I wind up with 5 groups of 25 or roughly 125 birds. In larger flocks 25-bird-groups would be too small.

The bottom photo is an actual count of the birds using Adobe Photoshop CC. You use the Count Tool (one of a couple methods); this tool is a dropdown under the Eyedropper Tool. It is somewhat tedious manually clicking on each bird image, but it is very accurate. The count is 147; did you come up with that number? My estimate is 85% of what was recorded by camera. Do you think that is good enough? Try estimating the birds at your feeders for practice; use your camera as the check...good counting :-)

Waxwings Finally Show Up En Masse...A Counting Exercise

It has been 23 days since I started monitoring for waxwings using Mountain Ash (Sorbus) trees in the neighborhood. Today I did not drive the 4 mile circuit, simply looked out the kitchen window. Yep, noted a large group of waxwing atop neighbors tall poplar tree. This is usually the scenario, large group of waxwings, when around, usually roost in these tall trees (tallest in the neighborhood). My reasoning for this behavior; Merlin (Falco columbarius) follow these birds around and the waxwings want a good vantage point for safety.

Not only is the mass of birds fun to see, but the cacophony of sound (link from All About Birds [Cornell Lab of Ornithology] website) is distinct.

Here's what the birds look like in flight. Note in poor light/at a distance they look like starlings. Closer examination and you will note the longer non-triangular wings. They land in waves in the treetop and not in a tight bunch or all close together. So how many birds are there?

Red-breasted Nuthatch..."Happy, jolly little bird"

Arthur Cleveland Bent* nailed the description of this bird: "The red-breasted nuthatch is a happy, jolly bird, surprisingly quick and agile in his motions...winds about the little twigs out to the end...more sociable, too...feeding together they keep up a cheery chatter among themselves...high, tin-whistle note, 'kng'."

I encountered a good number of these "happy" birds yesterday at Maclay Flat (USFS at Missoula, MT), a dandy place for a lot of different wildlife. Got a halfway decent photo (below) of one. They always seem to be around here (permanent resident); this is not true for other parts of the country. Red-breasted Nuthatch is an "irruptive species"; it breeds/is resident in the boreal forest and when food resources aren't available there in winter, it "irrupts" or migrates to places that do have food. Audubon has a nice, colorful video explaining this concept.

To find this bird in your neighborhood, look for a substantial stand of pine or spruce. Look both at the trunk and twigs for movement. As omnivores they are eating seeds of the cones and wintering insects wedged in the bark. Listen for their call or hammering (much softer than a woodpecker) on the bark extracting insects. It can challenging to find them, but you get the secondary benefits of fresh air, exercise...and a good story of adventure :-)

*Mr. Bent compiled the 21 volume set "Life histories of North American Birds" with the first volume published in 1919 continuing through 1968 by the United States National Museum. I have the Dover reprint of this series published in 1964. An electronic version of Bent can be found here. These writings are very poetic, descriptive and will add flavor/skill to your birding experience.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Simple Effort...Big Birding Rewards

Birding is like sports, the right bounce here/there success (sometimes large) follows. So, I stepped outside (see photo below) this morning (9:20 am) on a clear, cold (10 F) day hoping to start my 2015 birding list with some common birds. Almost immediately, heard a American Robin "chortling" in the near distance, awesome first bird for year...very local around fruit bearing trees/shrubs. This was quickly followed by five other species: Common Raven, House Finch, Red Crossbill, Black-billed Magpie and American Crow.

Then walked to the other side of house near neighbors Mountain Ash and feeders down the street. My neighbor came outside to retrieve his newspaper and we proceeded with some football talk. After a couple of minutes of Peyton Manning et al a group of Western Bluebirds swooped into his Mountain Ash tree. I was stunned, never seen them in January...WOW. Abandoned the conversation and ran for my camera. Returned to find them perched atop nearby Blue Spruce (see photos below). Spent couple of minutes taking photos at different settings (want diagnostic pic). With mission accomplished a Northern Flicker blasts by me above and to left giving a odd call. Birds scatter, gotta be a hawk.

Yep, spy the streak to the left land in the branchy middle of Ponderosa Pine...it's an Accipiter. Quick look with my binoculars, square tail...Sharpie. Camera in hand start taking photos while walking towards the bird. Get to within 35 yards before it flushes. This is really my morning, didn't do anything special...just catching all the breaks :-) Walking to the front door of house, you guessed it, more gold...Townsend's Solitaire flys over. Three species of thrush in January in 35 minutes; that is what is cool about birding...the unexpected. Get outside for your share of excitement :-)

Western Bluebird

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Backlit, Silhouetted Eagle...Which Species?

Birding skill is built on good looks of species; the language of bird identification is target and study diagnostic field marks incorporating a philosophy of "jizz" (general impression size and shape). Yep, that is accomplished under good conditions (lighting, weather, etc.) and soon the art of bird identification is mastered. Then comes an opportunity to push the envelope.

After work (late afternoon on a winter day) an eagle is perched in a tall cottonwood. At a distance it is all dark, nape reflects lighter color with what appears to be a smallish bill...thinking Golden Eagle. Photos are taken at about 75 yards with a DSLR camera, below are two shots. Though lighting is poor, note: the steep forehead; strongly hooked, dark-tipped bill; the white spotting on the wing coverts; no white tail base; the nape lacks large, solid area of golden hue. Now thinking Bald Eagle, for sure. As President Ronald Reagan said many years ago, "trust, but verify" :-) Find something challenging too!

Another Successful Christmas Bird Count

Had an enjoyable Christmas Bird Count experience; our section (Lee Metcalf NWR) of the Stevensville, MT count circle found 55 species...did not detect a single House Sparrow or Starling! Temperatures were near/at 32 F all day with periods of sunshine, very nice compared to -20 F on North Dakota CBC's some years back. The wind was calm morning long with a definite uptick by early afternoon.

The group was composed of four people, perfect for the Ford Explorer used. The windows were frozen closed for the better part of an hour, however it didn't negatively effect the outcome. As the first person to arrive, I ticked off a hooting Great Horned Owl in the dark without any special effort. Thanks to the mild overnight temps, open water habitat allowed us to quickly add target species Northern Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Virginia Rail (with assist from smartphone app) and assorted waterbirds within 30 minutes of start. By 9:30 we had reached 36 species, many that no other count circle group will tick off. This touches on strategy, that's right this birding event requires thoughtful planning.

I've previously posted (http://goo.gl/9DZBSc) behaviors for CBC birding success. Like identification much of these behaviors become second nature/intuitive with experience. So it came as no surprise that the Prairie Falcon and Rough-legged Hawk (few around this winter) were atop powerpoles on the route returning to the office for a decided twenty minute lunch break. After which we went into forested habitat for woodpecker, finch and nuthatch species. Did not find much for quite a while when we heard a call note, yep that's how feeding flocks are found. Craning our necks to the upper branches of Ponderosa Pine, there were the Pygmy Nuthatch (25...making their piano wire vocalizations, my interpretation) with a host of other small songbirds-great fun!!

Leaving the forested habitat, we were above 50 species for the day, but had missed Pileated and Hairy Woodpecker. We revisited wetland habitat targeting Snipe. There was a good amount of shallow water areas to look over. One of our group spied a small bird out on a mudflat...very strange! Hurriedly set up the spotting scope and surmised it was a Rusty Blackbird, yowza! Yep, closer looks and photos (header photo above) determined it was really this species. Probably a Refuge CBC first.

Backtracked to previous search area and voila...snipe flushed. By now it was late afternoon and a "mission accomplished" mentality set in. Surpassed our target of 50 species on a winter day in Montana...not bad :-) Hope you had a chance to participate in this fun birding, if not there's still time.